Memory of swimming in the Aegean Sea: “Don’t tell anyone, it’s so beautiful”
In Hydra, swimming can be mystical. Our contributor Sophie Fontanel tells us about the desire for sparkling water, the voluptuousness of the enveloping sea, and swimming as a nirvana.
As soon as the boats have moved away, the Aegean Sea, dotted with microscopic islands (here off the coast of Hydra), will become pristine again. VINCENT MIGEAT / AGENCE VU
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This year I won't go. Sometimes infinite pleasure has to be put on hold, otherwise it would paradoxically no longer be so infinite, and instead doomed to wear and tear. That's why some years I pass. But the moment I give up on going swimming in the Aegean Sea, everything is resurrected. We believe that our ultimate limit, even as AI seems to be pulverizing them all, remains our inability to teleport. And yet, the Aegean Sea. Close your eyes. Be there.
My first swim in the Aegean Sea was from the deck of a ship, my body not even in the water as the vessel moved away from the port of Piraeus. I was 21 years old, it was my first trip to Greece with my first pennies from my first independence. Did this sea sparkle brighter than the Mediterranean? Probably not, but it gave that impression because it was littered with microscopic islands on which were perched chap…
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